School bus drivers and chaperones are bundled up on the picket lines for day three of their strike.

There are no talks planned to work out a deal to get members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181 back to work.

The union says it’s not budging on the employee protection provisions, but the city says it cannot legally enter negotiations with workers.

Those hitting the picket line outside a bus depot in the Castle Hill section of the Bronx this morning say no matter how cold it gets or how much longer it takes, they are not giving up.

“He’s punishing everybody, Bloomberg is destroying our city. He has his billions of dollars okay? And we are the middle class and poor because we live from check to check,” said Ivonne Rivera, a school bus driver.

“We don’t hear anything from our representatives so that’s the reason we’re here at this time,” said Maurice Konte, a school bus driver.

The Department of Education says compared to the first day of the strike, more children made it to class yesterday even though fewer buses were actually running.

Out of the normal 7,700 bus routes, about 2,300 were in operation, as opposed to 3,000 Wednesday.

Attendance among special needs students is still down significantly.

If you have a disabled child, Access-A-Ride may be able to help get them to school during the strike.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority says it will accommodate special needs students, but only on a case by case basis.